don't say "sucks" around clay people, they wouldn't like that if they heard you
yesterday was clay aiken day.
for anyone that doesn't know - my little sister, amanda, is a clay aiken FANATIC. she's got the cds, the posters, a christmas ornament... it's a little overboard if you ask me, but i can't talk cause i was just like that at her age with new kids on the block. ha. so for an early christmas present, my mom and i got her tickets for his christmas show which was last night at chicago theater. then we found out he was going to be signing copies of his new book at the borders right by the theater... so off we went, armed with lots of layers and 2 copies of "learning to sing", by clay aiken. we got downtown at 7am, the signing didn't start til noon, and only the first 300 were guaranteed to meet him and have their book signed. we thought we'd be fairly close to the front. HA!! apparantly clay aiken fans are dedicated beyond belief. there were people camped out overnight in tents, people with little lanterns and sleeping bags, people who'd been standing outside in line for hours bundled up so tight you couldn't see their faces. i'm not sure i could even imagine how those people must have felt by 8am when borders opened the doors for all of us crazy fans standing outside in the bitter cold. i was only out there for a little over an hour and i thought for sure i had frostbite on atleast 8 of my toes. my face was chapped and wind-burned, my hands were numb from giving amanda my warm mittens. it was absolutely insane.
when we finally got inside the bookstore, we found out we weren't in the top 300 and were close to 350 or so. we were given yellow tickets that said "thanks for buying clay's new book. this ticket guarantees you a place in line but does not guarantee you will meet clay or have your book signed... but you are welcome to wait!" so of course, we waited. 300 other people with yellow tickets also waited. everyone else was sent away with no chance of even glancing at the nerd that is clay aiken. the line twisted and turned through every single aisle of the second floor of borders. i felt bad for anyone who was actually there with the intention of shopping. the lucky first 300, who had red tickets, were twisted around aisles on the 3rd floor, where clay would be signing the books.
i saw one of the red tickets - i could have duplicated those things in photoshop in a matter of minutes, but nobody wanted to take any chances. wimps. anyways...
there we sat against the books in the poetry section of the children's books. my mom left for awhile and got some munchkins to share with all the new friends we made in line, and somehow i managed to take a nap with amanda's snowpants as my pillow. how comfy. we met all kinds of people - 2 women from indiana who took personal days off work to stalk clay, a lady from texas whose "hobby" is going to clay concerts - no matter what state they're in, a teenager who was practically failing out of school but got her grades up to straight A's because her mother said that was the only way she was going to the concert. i learned that there's a huge fanclub with tons of members that call themselves "claymates". one claymate made stickers with clay's face on them and handed them out to nearly everyone in line. what i found interesting was that a good 95% of the people there were grown women. i guess i was expecting a huge teeny bopper crowd, but there were very few younger people there, and i didn't see a single other little kid except for amanda. now let me tell you, these women are OBSESSED... and when people started cutting in line these women became vicious. no way was anyone going to hinder their chances of meeting the one and only clay aiken. they were ready to kill someone if they took their place in line. honestly, i thought it was all a little overboard.
so like i said, we sat and sat and sat. now keep in mind that this ENTIRE time, we didn't even know if we'd get to meet the guy or not. finally, around 12:15, the screams started... clay was in the building! somehow, he worked the line like a madman and people got through pretty quickly. finally, all of the red tickets were gone... and clay said he'd stay to meet more people and sign more books. THANK GOD... i don't even want to know what amanda would have done if we had waited all that time and then got sent away with books that hadn't even been on the same floor of the store as clay. we were in the first 50 of the yellow tickets, and up to the 3rd floor we went. after about another 1/2 hour of standing in line, it was our turn. amanda did great - she marched right up there, gave his reps the christmas card she made him, smiled big, and said "hi". he asked her name, shook her hand, even asked where she was from. it was a dream come true for her, and completely adorable to watch. and for kind of a nerd, the guy isn't half bad! i went through behind amanda and had our second copy of the book signed (ebay here it comes), shook his hand, and said merry christmas. i don't know how he did it - if i had been stuck sitting and signing my name hundreds of times i would NOT still be smiling at every fan that came past. but he did, and i was impressed. we left borders around 2 with amanda smiling ear to ear and my mom and i laughing at the women who were crying they were so overwhelmed. i never thought i'd say it, but the 7 hours of waiting in line wasn't half bad, and it was worth it just to see amanda so excited.
since the concert wasn't until 8pm, we walked around marshall fields and then took a cab over to water tower place for lunch and shopping. my mom picked out a cute hat for me and i got a couple last minute christmas presents out of the way. then we cabbed it back to the theatre around 7 and waited in our 8th row seats for the 8 o'clock curtain. i spolied amanda and bought her clay stickers and buttons, and my mom got her a program book. considering the people in the first few rows spent about $500 (minimum) on tickets through a charity auction, our seats couldn't have been much better. the show started right on time, and it was amazing. i'm not all that crazy about his regular album, but his christmas album is pretty good - and after seeing it live i can honestly say that the cd does no justice to his true talent. that boy can SING!!!! i couldn't believe it. i mean, i knew he wasn't bad, and i figured the show would be decent, but it was easily one of the best i've ever been to. he had an orchestra and a couple kids choirs that sang with him on some songs, and his 3 "backup" singers have some of the best voices i've ever heard. amanda had a great time, along with myself and my mom. we met his "right hand man" nick, danced in the aisle for one song, and overall just had an absolutely great time. YAY CLAY AIKEN!!!
considering we were up at 5am and didn't get home until after 11 last night, i'm tired. 3 more hours of work then babysitting... and then i plan on going straight to bed.
if i don't update again before... i hope everyone has a great christmas!!! :)
for anyone that doesn't know - my little sister, amanda, is a clay aiken FANATIC. she's got the cds, the posters, a christmas ornament... it's a little overboard if you ask me, but i can't talk cause i was just like that at her age with new kids on the block. ha. so for an early christmas present, my mom and i got her tickets for his christmas show which was last night at chicago theater. then we found out he was going to be signing copies of his new book at the borders right by the theater... so off we went, armed with lots of layers and 2 copies of "learning to sing", by clay aiken. we got downtown at 7am, the signing didn't start til noon, and only the first 300 were guaranteed to meet him and have their book signed. we thought we'd be fairly close to the front. HA!! apparantly clay aiken fans are dedicated beyond belief. there were people camped out overnight in tents, people with little lanterns and sleeping bags, people who'd been standing outside in line for hours bundled up so tight you couldn't see their faces. i'm not sure i could even imagine how those people must have felt by 8am when borders opened the doors for all of us crazy fans standing outside in the bitter cold. i was only out there for a little over an hour and i thought for sure i had frostbite on atleast 8 of my toes. my face was chapped and wind-burned, my hands were numb from giving amanda my warm mittens. it was absolutely insane.
when we finally got inside the bookstore, we found out we weren't in the top 300 and were close to 350 or so. we were given yellow tickets that said "thanks for buying clay's new book. this ticket guarantees you a place in line but does not guarantee you will meet clay or have your book signed... but you are welcome to wait!" so of course, we waited. 300 other people with yellow tickets also waited. everyone else was sent away with no chance of even glancing at the nerd that is clay aiken. the line twisted and turned through every single aisle of the second floor of borders. i felt bad for anyone who was actually there with the intention of shopping. the lucky first 300, who had red tickets, were twisted around aisles on the 3rd floor, where clay would be signing the books.
i saw one of the red tickets - i could have duplicated those things in photoshop in a matter of minutes, but nobody wanted to take any chances. wimps. anyways...
there we sat against the books in the poetry section of the children's books. my mom left for awhile and got some munchkins to share with all the new friends we made in line, and somehow i managed to take a nap with amanda's snowpants as my pillow. how comfy. we met all kinds of people - 2 women from indiana who took personal days off work to stalk clay, a lady from texas whose "hobby" is going to clay concerts - no matter what state they're in, a teenager who was practically failing out of school but got her grades up to straight A's because her mother said that was the only way she was going to the concert. i learned that there's a huge fanclub with tons of members that call themselves "claymates". one claymate made stickers with clay's face on them and handed them out to nearly everyone in line. what i found interesting was that a good 95% of the people there were grown women. i guess i was expecting a huge teeny bopper crowd, but there were very few younger people there, and i didn't see a single other little kid except for amanda. now let me tell you, these women are OBSESSED... and when people started cutting in line these women became vicious. no way was anyone going to hinder their chances of meeting the one and only clay aiken. they were ready to kill someone if they took their place in line. honestly, i thought it was all a little overboard.
so like i said, we sat and sat and sat. now keep in mind that this ENTIRE time, we didn't even know if we'd get to meet the guy or not. finally, around 12:15, the screams started... clay was in the building! somehow, he worked the line like a madman and people got through pretty quickly. finally, all of the red tickets were gone... and clay said he'd stay to meet more people and sign more books. THANK GOD... i don't even want to know what amanda would have done if we had waited all that time and then got sent away with books that hadn't even been on the same floor of the store as clay. we were in the first 50 of the yellow tickets, and up to the 3rd floor we went. after about another 1/2 hour of standing in line, it was our turn. amanda did great - she marched right up there, gave his reps the christmas card she made him, smiled big, and said "hi". he asked her name, shook her hand, even asked where she was from. it was a dream come true for her, and completely adorable to watch. and for kind of a nerd, the guy isn't half bad! i went through behind amanda and had our second copy of the book signed (ebay here it comes), shook his hand, and said merry christmas. i don't know how he did it - if i had been stuck sitting and signing my name hundreds of times i would NOT still be smiling at every fan that came past. but he did, and i was impressed. we left borders around 2 with amanda smiling ear to ear and my mom and i laughing at the women who were crying they were so overwhelmed. i never thought i'd say it, but the 7 hours of waiting in line wasn't half bad, and it was worth it just to see amanda so excited.
since the concert wasn't until 8pm, we walked around marshall fields and then took a cab over to water tower place for lunch and shopping. my mom picked out a cute hat for me and i got a couple last minute christmas presents out of the way. then we cabbed it back to the theatre around 7 and waited in our 8th row seats for the 8 o'clock curtain. i spolied amanda and bought her clay stickers and buttons, and my mom got her a program book. considering the people in the first few rows spent about $500 (minimum) on tickets through a charity auction, our seats couldn't have been much better. the show started right on time, and it was amazing. i'm not all that crazy about his regular album, but his christmas album is pretty good - and after seeing it live i can honestly say that the cd does no justice to his true talent. that boy can SING!!!! i couldn't believe it. i mean, i knew he wasn't bad, and i figured the show would be decent, but it was easily one of the best i've ever been to. he had an orchestra and a couple kids choirs that sang with him on some songs, and his 3 "backup" singers have some of the best voices i've ever heard. amanda had a great time, along with myself and my mom. we met his "right hand man" nick, danced in the aisle for one song, and overall just had an absolutely great time. YAY CLAY AIKEN!!!
considering we were up at 5am and didn't get home until after 11 last night, i'm tired. 3 more hours of work then babysitting... and then i plan on going straight to bed.
if i don't update again before... i hope everyone has a great christmas!!! :)